New York Times bestselling author. Slow cooking expert.

Our wonderful neighbors, Sandy and Sherman, have been making this bean recipe for a good twenty years to take to family events and potlucks.

It's a lovely recipe.

I made it last week to bring to a potluck party up the street (Sandy and Sherman weren't at this particular get-together, but their daughter was!) and overheard many happy murmurs, and received lots of compliments.

This is evidently a bean dish for people who don't even like beans (which I can't imagine. I dream about beans.)

You've got to break out the skillet out for this recipe. I know. I'm sorry. It'll be okay, though. I promise.

Use a 6-quart or larger crockpot. This makes a lot.In a large skillet, brown the hamburger, bacon, and onion. You could probably do this all together, but I did the bacon separately (and woah, mama. pork bacon spatters *way* more than turkey bacon, but it tastes a whole lot better, so I sort of got over it rather quickly. for me. I hate spattery messes.)

While the meats and onion are browning, add the rest of the ingredients into the slow cooker. No need to really stir things up quite yet, or the beans will fall apart. Drain the meats well, and dump into the slow cooker. Use a large spoon to gingerly fold in the hot ingredients.

Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours. Stir well and serve to your very best friends.remember to clean the stove!

The Verdict.

I really liked these beans. I liked that they were comfort food, but didn't come across as just doctored up pork n' beans, which was my initial concern. I liked the meat in there, and when I make them again (which I WILL, and soon!), I might cut back a bit on the quantity of the meat---not because it was overwhelmingly meaty---but more because I don't think the flavor would be compromised and I could get away with it without notice. Kind of more like a challenge, I suppose.

All the kids at the party who tried the beans loved them, and my girls ate leftovers happily for lunch the next two days.

Next time cook the bacon in the oven. I use a Papmered Chef bar pan (like a cookie sheet with sides) and the bacon comes out perfect! I've also sone ito n a jelly roll pan with foil to make clean up easier.

My uncle makes a dish very similar to this - w/o the hamburger (I think - or maybe its just a little bit). I don't like beans, usually. But I devoured this dish! w/o the hamburger, I think his dish is a bit more like doctored up baked beans. I may need to try this recipe :)

Do you have any non-bean lover suggestions for bean recipes? I do want to try to use them more because of their cost and being shelf-stable.

I love to cook my bacon in the oven, no splattering and I can get behind anything that I don't have to watch closely. If you line your jelly roll pan with parchment or foil, then you can take off teh bacon, set the pan aside to cool and when it is you just peel off the liner and throw it away, then wipe off the pan. I cook mine anywhere from 325-425, depending on how much I want to babysit it, and how much of a hurry I am in. The other bonus of oven cooking is NO SPLATTER.

This is alot like a recipe I use, but mine doesn't have the liquid smoke. I'll have to add that next time. Also, mine just uses bacon, but you fry the onion with it. I cut up the bacon with a scissors before I brown it, then you throw grease and all in with the beans. Wonderful flavor!

As I read the recipe my first words in my comment were going to be.."I encourage all readers to try these" and then I see Jen wrote the exact same thing! My husbands family has been making these for years, we say it is a Family secret recipe when anyone asks for it! Make a large crock of these and divide them up (if you have any left) into smaller portions to thaw for other meals as a side dish.

Oh, I have a recipe that is like this but has a pound of smoked sausage in it as well. It always gets rave reviews, and someone usually ends up asking for the recipe everytime I take it. Try the sausage in there with the bacon and hamburger sometime, you'll love it. All I do is boil it first to get some of the grease out, then slice into 1i nch slices!

Apparently, everyone in the world knows the bacon/oven trick. Was going to enlighten you as to the magic, but I'm too late as usual. ;-) My added bit is to put the bacon on metal racks so it gets really crispy. It also makes your whole house smell like bacon but not like grease. Like if Yankee made a Bacon candle. (Wouldn't that be great?)

I also save the few slices that won't fit on my half-sheet pan, chop them and freeze. You can put a handful in a bowl, nuke it for a bit, and have great bacon bits. I added some of those tonight to homemade mac-n-cheese with peas. Tasty.

yum! I am definitely going to make this. I bet my son will love it and I have to start using the crockpot again anyway. My oven is broken. Swipe that. My oven is possessed! When I set it to 300, my thermometer goes off of the charts (over 550F) w/ no sign of slowing. Thanks for still posting recipes :).

I make baked beans very similar to this. No meat, just bacon, sliced onions, pork N beans, kidney beans, lima beans, ketchup, dry mustard and garlic powder. My favorite way to cook them is in the slow cooker, however if you bake them in the oven they get thick and ooey gooey delicious!

I have made this very casserole for YEARS...at least 30...we call it five been as there are TWO cans of pork and beans, one kidney, one butter and one pink beans, but everyting else is the same...its absolutely GREAT for potlucks, holidays, gatherings, what ever...it IS sweet, so offer some hot sauce on the side for others

Thanks for posting this - I've been looking for the recipe ever since I had this (with one change) at a squadron picnic at a base in Germany. The one change was that the gal who made it added chopped jalapenos.

I've been cooking with beans quite often lately - they have great nutrition and are so versatile. We always have leftovers too.

Instead of store-bought ketchup I've been making my own in my CrockPot - no white sugar or high fructose corn syrup - my body doesn't like either.

It's great to have a bean dish even for people that don't like beans. I've noticed that every time I post a bean recipe or one with a bean flour someone leaves a comment about refusing to use beans. I think it has to do with lack of fiber in our diets - once my fiber intake increased I had no problems with beans at all.

I know the bacon cooking has been beat to death, but a trick I saw on TV was to start with the bacon (on a sheet pan, lined with foil, on racks...which have all been covered) in a cold oven and let it heat up to 400 or so and cook until the bacon is done (about 10 minutes once it's up to temp). By starting out cold, the fat slowly melts and drips off onto the relatively cool pan instead of spattering around in the oven. Watch it closely once it really starts cooking though because it goes from soggy to extra crispy surprisingly fast. I also love the comment about the bacon scented candle :-)

my cousin makes this recipe, but our family calls it "settlers beans" but regardless of the name, they are delicious! I was thinking just a couple of days ago, how I wished I had the recipe. thanks for posting the recipe, now I don't have to ask my cousin for it.

The only thing I saw strange in your description is where you talk about leftovers. I made these beans for the first time for a family get-together and the people at the end of the line didn't get any!! They were gone in like 10 minutes. Better do a double batch next time! They were amazing.

I also, like the rest of the world evidently, love the bacon in the oven trick! And I'm so glad I read these comments with the fabulous idea to use foil to line the pan, so cleanup is easier. ANYTHING to make cleanup easier makes me happy!

Yum! These were delicious. I just used the beans we had in the pantry which were black beans, jalapeno pintos, and Bush's honey baked beans. I also used ground venison instead of beef but followed everything else. We had this for dinner with cornbread. Delicious!

Believe it or not my stepmom makes these beans without meat. She leaves out the bacon and uses TVP crumbles in place of the ground meat. You can barely taste a difference. I'm sharing this to confirm you theory that cutting down the meat would be OK.

You are so right about this recipe being for people who don't like beans (ie: my partner). He loved it! Normally he hates beans which is a problem for me because I love them!

This was so delicious and I will be cooking it again soon *ahem* eating the leftovers right now for lunch...

Stephanie - I just want to say thank you for your blog, I found it a week before my oven died completely, and you given me so much inspiration! I'll be slow cooking until we can afford to put a new oven in - thanks!! xx Kat (Australia)

I am making this as we speak - can't WAIT to dig into it! But it does make an awful lot for my small family - I was wondering if you think it would freeze well and that way I don't have to half the recipe next time? Thanks, anyone!

Hi Amanda,I hope you like them! Yes, these beans freeze and reheat wonderfully. Pull them out the night before and let them thaw in the fridge, then reheat in the microwave or on the stove in a pot.The slow cooker isn't meant for re-heating.

I first made these as the recipe indicated. Now I use the quantity of meat as stated and double the beans and 1.5 times the catsup, brown sugar, and smoke. Our family LOVES this! My son's Boy Scout Troop LOVES this!! We also make them in a dutch oven at campouts. Thank you!!

I had this at a pockluck 20 years ago, and still remember it! For those of you who cringed at pulling out the frying pan- just cook up twice the meat and put it in a ziplock (push out as much air as possible) in the freezer for next time!

I've just made a version of this here in Australia that skipped the canned pork and beans, and substituted smokey bbq sauce for the ketchup, brown sugar and liquid smoke, and it turned out wonderfully. Not too sweet either, which is what I was afraid of. I started at 3/4 cup bbq sauce though, and added a dollop more after mixing it in.

I made these for a fathers day cookout at my inlaws. EVERYONE loved them!!!! :) I added a can of Bushes baked beans into it. This is so easy to make and I have been told not to show up at any family gatherings without it. haha.